The overall meeting of the Lixun-1 higher stage Photograph: Courtesy of CAS House
The Lixun-1 higher stage Photograph: Courtesy of CAS House
Lixun-1 higher stage, a flexible “area tug” developed by China’s business area agency CAS House, is scheduled to make its maiden flight within the first quarter of 2027 after finishing a sequence of key propulsion-system checks, the developer and its chief designer informed the World Occasions on Tuesday.
The “tug” is designed to ferry satellites from one orbit to a different and help missions starting from constellation deployment to lunar exploration.
Whereas the principle phases of a rocket carry payloads from the bottom into an preliminary orbit, an higher stage takes over as soon as the craft is in area. By repeatedly restarting its engine and altering orbit, Lixun-1 can ship satellites to larger or totally different orbits, distribute a number of spacecraft to separate locations throughout a single launch, or ship probes onto trajectories towards the moon and past, World Occasions discovered from the developer.
Yang Haoliang, chief designer of the Lixun-1 higher stage, in contrast the system to a shuttle service. “If the common phases of a launch automobile are like a long-distance bus,” – they carry the higher stage and satellites from Earth to a near-Earth parking orbit – the higher stage then takes over as a “area tug,” carrying its satellite tv for pc “passengers” onward to their designated orbital “stops,” Yang defined.
That functionality can have a direct impression on how effectively satellites are launched and operated, Yang stated. If a satellite tv for pc has to climb from an preliminary orbit to its ultimate vacation spot utilizing its personal engine, the method can eat a substantial quantity of onboard propellant and scale back the gasoline accessible throughout its operational life. An higher stage can as an alternative carry out that orbital switch, serving to preserve satellite tv for pc gasoline and probably lengthen its service life.
It could additionally make one rocket launch do extra work. As an alternative of releasing a batch of satellites into roughly the identical orbit, Lixun-1 can repeatedly ignite its engine and maneuver between deployments, sending totally different satellites to totally different altitudes and inclinations. Yang stated this could assist speed up constellation deployment whereas bettering the effectivity of particular person launches.
The sensible ambitions behind the system are backed by a significant technical milestone reached this month. In August, Lixun-1 accomplished its PV-001 built-in propulsion-system coordination firing check, throughout which the complete system operated easily for 566 seconds.
Yang informed the World Occasions that the present Lixun-1 higher stage has a thrust of 20 kilonewtons and may obtain a particular impulse of 315 seconds, which he described as reaching an internationally main degree. The August firing lined the deliberate profile for the maiden mission, an necessary step earlier than the system proceeds to flight testing.
The check was greater than an indication of the engine itself. As an necessary system-level verification throughout growth, it examined the coordination and engineering reliability of the engine pressurization system, propellant supply system, propellant administration system and servo-control system beneath the totally built-in configuration.
Of a sequence of checks that gathered 5,211 seconds of firing time, the most recent one centered on three core applied sciences: a high-thrust, high-performance 20-kilonewton upper-stage engine able to a number of begins; balanced propellant supply from a number of parallel tanks; and a extremely dependable built-in electrical system. Their profitable verification means Lixun-1 has accomplished its system-level testing and is able to transfer into the flight-test part, based on the developer.
Lixun-1 has been designed as a modular and usually adaptable higher stage relatively than a system tied to just one rocket. It’s meant to work with CAS House’s Kinetica-2 and Kinetica-2 heavy-lift variants in addition to different launch automobiles, Yang stated.
When paired with the Kinetica-2 household, Lixun-1 may considerably increase the rocket’s mission vary. For communications missions, it may ship satellites to geosynchronous switch orbit and even on to geosynchronous orbit, conserving satellite tv for pc propellant whereas supporting the deployment of high-throughput satellites and future 6G communications spacecraft.
For multi-satellite missions, the mixture may distribute spacecraft to totally different orbital altitudes and inclinations throughout a single launch, probably serving each low-Earth-orbit constellations and medium- or high-orbit payloads. For deep-space missions, it may place probes onto Earth-moon switch trajectories and help lunar exploration, Yang stated.
The higher stage is designed to have the ability to conduct greater than 20 engine ignitions, autonomously plan orbital-transfer routes and function beneath the vacuum and excessive temperature circumstances of area. After finishing payload deployment, it might additionally perform orbital disposal maneuvers to scale back space-debris dangers.
Yang stated the Lixun-1 and Kinetica-2 mixture is designed to cowl the overwhelming majority of economic satellite tv for pc launch necessities whereas retaining the flexibility to take part in main nationwide area initiatives. Extra broadly, the higher stage kinds a part of CAS House’s effort to construct launch capabilities reaching medium and excessive Earth orbits and deep area, extending the attain of China’s business area sector towards larger orbits and extra distant locations.
